Traditional Services

WESLEY METHODIST CHURCH

TRADITIONAL SERVICES

Wesley Sanctuary 7.30am | 9.30am (Live-streamed) | 11.30am | 5.00pm

14 December 2025 | THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT

Advent – A Season of Waiting and Faithful Anticipation

Liturgical Colour: Purple

Lectionary (Year A): Isaiah 35:1–10, Psalm 146:5–10,
James 5:7–10, Matthew 11:2–11 

Songs:
Tell Out, My Soul (UMH 200)
My Soul Gives Glory to My God (UMH 198)
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus (UMH 196)
Dona Nobis Pacem (UMH 376)
O Sing a Song of Bethlehem (UMH 179)
Rejoice, the Lord is King (UMH 715)

Sermon: Hope Amidst Hopelessness (Isaiah 35:1–10)

I.  GATHERING

We gather in the Lord’s name weekly to be renewed in our hearts and minds. Our worship of God is a response to his revelation as he reveals his truth to us through Scripture, sermon, prayers and songs 

PREPARATION PRAYER

In Christ, God, you have made your home on earth.
Christ dwells among us and is one with us.
Highest of all creation, he lives among the least.
He journeys with the rejected and welcomes the weary. 

All: We gather, alive to the Word of God through songs and Scripture, ready to listen and respond with heart, soul, strength, and mind.
Amen. 

MEDITATION VERSE 

The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
Isaiah 35:1–2a 

Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, do not fear; your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution he will come to save you.” 
Isaiah 35:3–4 

And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast;
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there.
Isaiah 35:8–9 

PRELUDE 

INTROIT
Blessed Be the God of Israel  UMH 209, St. 1

GREETING

CALL TO CONFESSION by Rev Mia M. McClain

L: We gather together in this season of Advent
anticipating hope, praying for peace,
attempting to cultivate joy and share love
amidst commotion, grief, despair and uncertainty. 

PRAYER TO CONFESSION 

All: God, we confess that we have often placed our hope in
people and things that can’t fulfill our every need.
We have searched for peace in shallow places.
We have mistaken joy for temporal pleasure and artificial exhilaration.
We have put limits on the ways we love,
excluding those who need our loving kindness the most.
God, when we have lost our way, show us yours.
Guide us to the hope in you that will renew our strength.
Lead us to your peace that transcends all understanding.
Fill us with a joy we can only experience in your presence.
Remind us that you have always loved us with an everlasting love,
so that we may share that love with others. Amen. 

WORDS OF ASSURANCE
L: In this season of desolation and uncertainty, it is good to know that
God’s love for us is sure—that God’s commitment to us is definite—
that God is guiding us as the compassionate companions
that we are called to be for each other.
Let us live into this gift.
All: Amen. 

CANDLE LIGHTING LITURGY

L: On the past two Sundays, we lit the candles of hope and peace. 

Today, we light the candle of joy as a sign of the Truth that sets us free to live in joy as we wait and work for the day when all creation will flourish together. 

In the midst of our waiting and longing for God to make the world right again, we cling to the truth that  
  God has saved,
  God is saving, and
  God will save. 

So today, we join our voices with the prophet Isaiah, who calls us to live in the joy of the truth of God’s salvation. 

All: We choose to believe that the day is coming when
“the redeemed will walk there,
and those the LORD has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
   everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
   and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” (Isaiah 35:10) 

UNISON PRAYER
All: Holy God of Joy,
We rejoice in the reality of who you are.
We live within the joy of your love for us.
Our contentment comes and goes.
Our happiness ebbs and flows.
Our feelings depend upon our circumstances,
our physical health, our brain chemistry.
But our joy is deeply rooted
in our identity as your beloved children.
And we give you thanks. Amen. 

CALL TO WORSHIP *by Dr. Lisa Hancock, 2025

Beloved, we gather to rejoice in God who does wondrous things,
who promises that someday all manner of things shall be well.
We rejoice in the truth of the day that all the earth awaits. 

We worship with joy now, confident that
God will not stop until all creation is at peace.
We rejoice in the truth of the day that all the earth awaits. 

We lift up our voices in song and story, in prayer and praise,
as we remember and rejoice in all that God has done and will do among us.
We rejoice in the truth of the day that all the earth awaits. 

Come! Let us worship God with joy as we work with God
toward the day when all of creation lives in everlasting joy.
All: Come! Let us rejoice in the truth of the day that all the earth awaits. 

OPENING HYMN *
Tell Out, My SoulUMH  200

SCRIPTURE READINGPsalm 146

PRAYER HYMN
My Soul Give Glory to My GodUMH 198

SILENT PRAYER

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATIONUMH 182, St. 1

All: Word of God, come down on earth,
living rain from heaven descending;
touch our hearts and bring to birth
faith and hope and love unending.
Word almighty, we revere you;
Word made flesh, we long to hear you.
Amen. 

MUSICAL INTERLUDE

II.   SERMON

III.   WE RESPOND IN PRAYER, SHARING AND GIVING

We respond to God’s Word through (a) praying for the church and the world, (b) sharing of God’s peace with one another (2 Cor 13:11, Gal 5:13) after having received the peace of Christ, and after made peace with one another, (c) offer to God our tithes and gifts (Matt 5:24), as a response to Christ’s sacrificial offering (Eph 5:2, 1 Pet 2:5). 

PRAYER

Prayers of the People

The Lord’s Prayer (ASAS) 

PEACE

Welcome

Sharing of God’s Peace * 
Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant us peace)UMH 376 

FAMILY NEWS

GIVING

Offertory Prayer

Tithes and Gifts to God
O Sing a Song of Bethlehem (UMH 179)  Congregation 

Doxology * 
Advent Doxology
Tune: OLD 100TH

Praise God for gifts of hope and peace.
Praise God for gifts of joy and love.
Praise God for sending Christ to dwell.
On earth for us – Emmanuel.
Amen.

IV.   SENDING FORTH

Having encountered God through worship, we are to (a) serve one another through acts of service, (b) participate in the programs of the church to continue growing in our Christian discipleship, and (c) to go forth into the world as Christ’s hands and feet in the ministry of reconciliation. 

CLOSING HYMN *
Rejoice, the Lord is KingUMH 715

BENEDICTION *

POSTLUDE

Prayer Ministry at the Altar
If you need someone to pray with you, please proceed to the inner rails of the altar area. If you wish to pray alone, please use the outer rails.

* Congregation may stand.